Smackdown III Kickoff

Smackdown III is here!! This weekend promises to be an exciting day of racing for the Sim. The host tracks will be fast and firm and you will see lots of familiar names representing DUR, GR Simsters & NWRC. Each residency is putting their best foot forward and looking to claim the title of Smackdown III champion. On the track you will see grudge matches, upsets and current champions solidifying their rankings. Up in the private boxes, you’re sure to see bigshots Lenny & Jockeymax hanging out in expensive suits. Barndog & Rafa will be there of course, each one of them are sure to be very popular due to their number of entrants for the day. Stevemunoz will be off in his own world on his cell phone all day making sure he gets all his claim bids in and keeping a stroke tally of all his wins at other tracks. Snowchief will be around cheering for every horse in every race J . Roys will have so many people wanting to buy her a cold one, that she will never need to spend a dime! I’ll be hanging out at the beer garden with Lissa and a couple of my cabaret girls, each one wearing a half shirt printed with “Bite the Bullet II” across the front and “Explosive Who?” across the back. Winner’s Circle photo or not, I guarantee they will be getting their pix taken 😉 Rumor has it the man himself, Mike W. will make an appearance, so if you see someone with a DeepRoute.com cap talking to the Queen of England, you may have found him. NWRC will be making an entrance that day with a whole fleet of limos for all their trainers. Tracy, Will & Bullfrogmb will lead the way here, so just look for the television news crews to find them.

Now, what was I doing here? Oh yeah, a race preview. Well, I don’t have anywhere near the writing expertise that Roys has, and it is my first time writing for the BTB, so cut me some slack huh? J Smackdown III kicks off with 3yo colts going 12f on the turf, let’s look at the runners.

Trained by stormracin (nwrc), this Generous(GB) colt is the least experienced of the field with only 6 starts to date and is one of two in this field without a stakes race under his belt. To his credit, his only race off the board was a dirt sprint and he has won half of his starts nicely from the back of the pack. LTO he had a career high 95sp going away at 9f on the turf. He definitely has a shot with his breeding, recent form and awesome jock *ahem* P Incay taking the mount.

PP 2 – TOUCH OF PEARL(JPN)

In the 2 hole we have a Fantastic Light youngster brought up to speed by trainer batesy (dur). He has a great looking record and 3 stakes races to date. His best finish was a place in the “Can He Get The Distance” stakes at 11f. He seems to be struggling at this point in his life to get the 12f distance, thus his 17/1 odds today, but I have seen stranger things happen.

PP 3 – BOLD AND PERFECT(KY)

Go to the front, stay in the front. That seems to be the recipe for success with this tbird2 (nwrc) trained colt. Off his recent win of the NWRC Triple Crown Stakes series, his trainer opted to go for the switch back to turf. He posted an excellent 97sp going 12f on the dirt LTO and looking at past races he can carry that speed on turf as well. He seems to be the speed of the speed here and has a jockey who is familiar with him, although he won’t be alone up front. If he can relax with the pressure, he has a good shot and is a great value at 7/1.

PP 4 – EL KURSAAL(KY)

Layeguada (nwrc) aka Rafa. A sim friend I’ve known for years. I know I don’t need to tell you, this guy can breed. El Kursaal is classy with his 5^th place finish in the G1 Adelaide Derby. This one can can run all day, but this weekend will be stretching back out to 12f. It looks like layeguada is bringing his horse up to this race perfectly. He has the speedsters in this race he needs to set up his closing style if he can keep close enough. A key player at 8/1.

PP 5 – GENEROUS QUEST(IRE)

Generous….. Quest….. Anybody care to take a guess at his bloodlines? Fastracing (nwrc), who also trains, the horse in the one hole, saddles this one as one of the longshots in the field. This runner seems to still be finding himself and may come into his own as a 4yo. At this time, he seems better suited at the allowance levels.

PP 6 – SISSON’S RED(IRE)

Giant’s Causeway x Red Ransom is what we find with this nicely bred colt. His two stakes races to date however, leave much to be desired. He did make a huge improvement once placed on turf and is a closer no doubt, but unless his trainer v8mullet (dur) has some sort of trick up his sleeve, I’m not sure this one will make an impact. On the other hand, he has yet to run longer than 10f…. Hmmm.

PP 7 – PLEASANT WAR(KY)

Here is the last of the NWRC runners and the 3^rd entry for trainer layoff (nwrc) aka fastracing aka stormracin. Check him out, he is on a four race win streak, has never lost on the turf, and is the only graded winner of the field. He won the Queen’s Flower Pot with a 93sp at 16f on turf. At one point the had a 10 length lead on the rest of them and cruised to an easy win. He has a top jockey with F. Gossett up and can go to the front or rate just off the lead. At 14/1 he is the best value play of the race.

PP 8 – FLASHOVER(AUS)

Hewett (dur) brings this one in well rested after his maiden win. Can he go the distance? No problem. Can he do it with enough speed to win this event? I doubt it. All his best placings have been on turf routes and perhaps this trainer knows something the rest of us don’t. He gets the acid test today and with 8 tries to break his maiden, looks like another horse who is still finding himself … although today I think it will be at the back of the pack.

PP 9 – URBAN SPEED ZONE(IRE)

Awesome breeding. Awesome consistency. Awesome 100% ITM on turf stat. Awesome 4 race win streak on turf which included a stakes win at 9f in the Cad Speak Handicap. Smart trainer with commbank (dur) calling the shots. Now the bad news. As soon as he was stretched out an extra eighth to 10f, he started struggling. SP’s were still great at 91 & 92, but now he tries 12f. He does seem to do better in big fields but I would check him another day.

PP 10 – EIGHT STRAIGHT(KY)

Finally we get to a GR Simsters runner. Now how did all their horses get stuck on the outside…he he he. Catahoula (grs) trains Eight Straight. Now how did that name come about? Hmm, well if you subtract, then add the SP’s of all his last 3yo races starting from the most recent and end by subtracting the SP of his last 2yo run it comes out to 8. His 8^th race back was 8f and when you add the 7 and 9 from his sp and take an average it comes out to eight. Now what does this have to do with how this horse will run today? Nothing, but if you tried it out to check my math, you would have seen that his last race SP was 99 and is the highest in this field.

PP 11 – LIGHTWORK(IRE)

Another GR Simsters entry here, this one trained by simsters4 (grs). Looks to be an all or nothing type and he definitely needs the lead to be effective. With Deputy Minister in his blood he can go 12f I’m sure, and even though he has a couple of 97SP’s going 10f his only wins have come in small fields and his stakes appearances have been dismal. He is actually the morning line favorite, but I don’t see this one being able to pull it off, so I wouldn’t bet on him. Oh….. Wait a second… this is one of Lenny’s horses so I take it all back.

PP 12 – NO TIME FOR LOSERS(IRE)

No time for losers? Neither do I, so let’s go on to the next horse. Just kidding! This DUR runner does need to take a big leap forward to be able to threaten these though. His speed just won’t be good enough to place him in front at the finish. His trainer, z2912 (dur) tried him on dirt after a decent showing of 94SP in the Exeter Orange stakes and immediately found out that this horse doesn’t like it. Maybe his trainer, who is better known in the sim as Magoo, liked what he saw in that closing 10f Alw race 2 back? Hold on now, Mr. Magoo….liked what he saw… Mr. Magoo….saw. Get it? Got it? Good.

PP 13 – MAX CALIFORNIA(KY)

Buffy5 (grs) puts this one in the mix and goes off at 10/1. He has almost banked a half million in only 11 races. Ultra consistent since he was 2 and looks to be the horse for the course. He lays off the lead and always makes a determined stretch effort. He won an owner restricted stakes easily at this distance LTO with a strong 98SP. Buffy5 gave him plenty of rest and he looks ready to roll this weekend.

PP 14 – TOURNIQUET(KY)

Lenny’s (grs) second entry looks good. He is on a 3 win race streak, with the last two being stakes races he won easily. The stakes races were the Hacksaw Stakes and the Stop The Bleeding Stakes so it looks like they were bought for this horse if you notice his name. Either way he won impressively and we’ll all see if he is for real this weekend.

PP 15 – FRICTION(KY)

Rounding out the field of fifteen we have the peeps2 (grs) trained Friction. LTO he faded to his Smackdown stablemate Max California after leading the entire way. Another need the lead type and with so many speedsters in this field it should be interesting to see who actually gets the lead. He seems to fold when challenged on the lead and may not hold here for the win, but will make a good account of himself.

That does it for my first preview. I’ll be hanging out watching the Cali races most of the day and will be catching a lear jet, courtesy of NWRC, to catch the last race in Texas. I guess I can make a 100% NWRC biased prediction of who will come in so I’ll go with Pleasant War to shock GRS & DUR into submission with a win at 14/1. El Kursaal to close for place with Bold and Perfect fading to hold on for show.

Have fun with the races today and I hope all your horses come back in great shape!

~Vett